The Empty Tide
by ensou
Summary: Every child's soul is meant to start out as a blank, white slate. It was just bad luck that hers didn't. Kara No Kyoukai influences.
1. Torn

New Story! Wooooo~

 **Characters:** Shio (Naruko), Naruto, Fem!Sasuke, Team 7

 **Warning** : This is rated MA. Unlike my other stories which are relatively fluffy or uh… normal, this is _really_ not a nice story (despite how innocuous it may seem in the early chapters). There will be graphic depictions of torture and murder, masochism, sadism, psychopathy, bloodplay, _maybe_ con/noncon, and _definitely_ sexual content in those contexts. So… yeah. Warnings for language, blood, gore, violence, sex, the whole nine yards. If you're cool with that, all I can say is I hope you enjoy the ride.

And as always, my stories are very slow on the build, but it's all so the exciting stuff later on is even better, I swear.

 **Disclaimer** : I do not own _Naruto_ …Despite how much I would love to have the royalties.

* * *

" _Take care, for when you gaze long into an Abyss, the Abyss gazes into you_ " - Friedrich Nietzsche

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**  
 **Torn**

People often say that death is painless. You'll read stories and novels, watch movies or TV shows where the main character dies or is reincarnated and it seems so… _easy_. Just falling asleep and bam! They've got a new life.

I beg to differ. Vehemently.

Death is _mostly_ painless. (That's like the difference between harmless and 'mostly harmless'). It's _usually_ painless, but isn't necessarily. I can see anything involving instant unconsciousness being a painless death. Like old age or suicide by sleeping pills. Heart attacks hurt like _hell_. It's like somebody stuck their hand into your chest and started clenching it against the natural rhythm, fighting the muscles and digging their nails into it. And thus, my death was not painless in the slightest. Obviously.

I don't know what happened after I died. (How would I? It's not like I was given an option to float around as a ghost.) But I'm pretty sure that a twenty-six year old girl dropping dead of a heart attack in the middle of a shopping market would have caused some alarm.

I _think_ they tried to resuscitate me. At that point I was falling into the inky darkness that swam at my back and it was so much nicer than the annoying tugs that kept trying to drag me up above the surface. It wasn't like I had a choice anyways. I could feel _something_ dragging me down harder than the other sensation was pulling up on me.

Everything after that is a little… fuzzy.

The lack of sensations really messed with my head. I suppose that not being able to tell the passage of time is relatively common when you're experiencing complete sensory deprivation, so I'll just have to be satisfied with not knowing how long any of this was. But I had no idea what was going on. I mean, I had to be _somewhere_ , simply because I didn't know where I was. (You know, that whole "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am." thing? Extremely weird to think about, but valid logic nonetheless. Descartes was weird.) And I _knew_ I had died, which pointed to the idea that I was in some kind of afterlife, considering I still existed in some shape or form. But I clearly wasn't in any afterlives I had ever heard of. It was just… _nothingness_.

Like… a vacuum. Or a void of some sort.

Now that I think about it, that's a misnomer, as since **I** was in the "void", it wasn't technically an empty void, but I honestly have no better name it. We'll just have to agree that it was subjectively void and leave it at that.

One... infinity? later I gained a sense of... something. It was there, but not there. I clung to that sensation, as it let me know for certain that I somehow still existed, even if there truly was nothing except me and the void that held and caressed me.

( _thedarkof_ _「 」_ _andnothingnothingnothingbut_ _ **Everything**_ )

It felt like falling sideways through a waterfall. It bit and tore at me, at the thing that made me me, but it also didn't hurt at all; it felt comforting in its embrace. I wanted to reach out to it. To hold it, to love it like it seemed to love me.

But then it disappeared without warning, leaving me lost and alone, saddened by its sudden departure. In its place was a blinding light, burning itself into my retina. An oppressive sensation of all-consuming malevolence and hatred ( _hatehatehate_ ) washed over me. Nothing could have prepared me from moving from feeling nothing to this overwhelming hatred and anger. From complete sensory deprivation to extreme sensory stimulation. It was so unexpected that I had no time to question the fact that I was apparently alive in some capacity now (the greens and browns of trees around me, and a bright orange towering above). All I could do was endure, trying to stand up to the presence.

Some indeterminable time later, a man's voice sounded over the crashing and roaring. "クシナ、それが唯一の…". And then the voice was muted by another roar that shook me, feeling like it would tear me apart just from the vibrations.

Then reality itself was torn apart. Cleaved in two to create a ripped seam in the universe. Don't ask me how I knew. I just did. But from that tear, something manifested. Something otherworldly and alien, yet… familiar. An exotic but comforting feeling beyond all sense and comprehension that hugged me like an old friend.

( _deathdeathdeathdeathdeath_ )

"封印!"

PAIN. There was so much _pain_! It was a pain that made me wish I was dead again. Made me wish for more of that blanket of nothing that had comforted me before ( _minealone_ ). That hideously beautiful, soothing emptiness. But it wasn't to be, because all there was was the blazing white-hot inferno inside of me that felt like it would tear me apart. That _was_ tearing me apart.

"…私たちはあなたの両方を愛して。ナルト、シオ、お互いの世話をしなだってばね。" A higher voice, and something wet, something warm, something crimson. ( _redredred_ ) A fluid that dripped on me and I somehow knew just from the contact exactly what it was.

( _stickyfingersthatsmellofrust_ )

 _ **Blood.**_

And then there was nothing once more. A different nothing, but a nothing that I nonetheless allowed myself to fall into, too tired to even consider fighting it.

* * *

 **Eight Years Later**

"Shiiii-chaaaaan." Something poked me in the cheek. "Shiiiii-chaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

I rolled off of the bed and landed on my feet, staring sleepily at my twin brother. "Nii-san? Wha–."

"Come _on_ , we're gonna be late!" I glanced out the window and noted that the sun was just barely over the horizon. He tugged on my hand, drawing my attention back to our simple room, and pulled me towards our tiny dresser. Moving much faster than I'd ever seen him this early, he got out a set of clothes for me, tugging my sleep shirt over my head and beginning to put a white T-shirt on me that matched his own black one. "Pants." He held out a pair of shorts and I stepped into them, still trying to figure out what was going on while finally starting to wake up.

"What?" I repeated. He grabbed my hand again and dragged me towards the similarly simple kitchen.

"The Academy! It's our first day! Here! Eat this!" He shoved a piece of toast covered in strawberry jam into my hands. "We're finally gonna be ninja!" Oh. Right. We were eight, and finally old enough to start attending the Academy. He'd been so excited about this. I guess I was too, but my brain was still fuzzy, trying to handle the whiplash that came from Naruto waking me up.

"But… we've still got to graduate, right?" I started eating my toast and he calmed down a little.

Naruto nodded. "But this is the first step!" I finished my slice, licking my fingers of crumbs, and followed him as he raced to the genkan to put on his sandals. He held mine out to me first, and I strapped them on. "Ready?" I nodded and he opened the door, pulling it closed behind us. "Come on! I'll race ya!"

I ran with him through the semi-crowded streets, ignoring everybody's looks at us as we ducked and weaved through the groups, taking alleys and smaller streets that would get us less attention. I never knew why they always looked so angry, but they did. It made getting groceries hard, but we found a place across the village that was nice to us. And there was always Ichiraku's.

The weird-shaped academy building towered over us as we slowed to a stop. Jii-chan had said his office was at the top up there, and I could see a bunch of really large windows that were probably his.

There were parents around the yard with other kids, and they glared at us and whispered stuff as we walked past them from the gate to the door. I bet it wasn't nice stuff. It never is.

"C'mon Shi-chan!" Naruto grabbed my hand again, pulling me towards the entrance hallway, drawing my attention away from the surrounding scrum. Inside the hallway, we looked at the bulletin board directly on our right that listed our classes, searching for our names. "I don't see–"

"3-E, nii-san." I whispered.

"Oh! Let's go then!" I nodded in acceptance and followed him up to the third floor and into the classroom. Almost nobody else was there, and we sat in two of the seats next to each other by the window. Naruto got the window seat. Other kids slowly walked in and sat in seats, some resting, like one boy with black pineapple-shaped hair, and others were more attentive. A girl with pink hair was sitting really straight in her chair, waiting for the teacher.

At eight o'clock exactly, a guy with a scar on his face walked in and stood at the front of the room. By now, my brother had started doodling, and I was just looking at the new person, my chin resting on my arms that were crossed on the table. "Good morning and welcome to the Academy. My name is Umino Iruka. I'll be your teacher for the next three or so years, as this class will stick together throughout your time here. With that in mind, it's important to get to know your fellow students, so as I call roll, please stand and give a short introduction for everybody else, like… what is your hobby, and what ninja subject you are most interested in."

Not many of the introductions really stuck with me. Only a couple stood out, like that pineapple kid (Shikamaru Nara), this large boy (Chōji Akimichi), another boy with a coat and glasses (Shino Aburame), and a girl with pretty blue hair and large lavender eyes (Hinata Hyūga). But there's only really one introduction I can recall completely, the one right before my brother's.

"Uchiha, Sasuke."

Iruka looked up to find the person associated with the name he had just called. The girl across the aisle to the right of me stood up. She was dressed in a feminine but utilitarian outfit of a dark blue top that resembled a kimono and an almost-white skirt with slit sides and matching skin-tight shorts. Jet-black hair reached her shoulder-blades and shimmered in the light, although it stuck up in odd places, reminding me of something that I couldn't place.

She cleared her throat. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. My hobby is training, and I'm interested in ninjutsu so that I can learn my family's techniques. Please take care of me." Her words were perfectly executed, but she still managed to somehow sound both proud (easily edging on conceited) and steely yet also genuine simultaneously.

I don't know why. But I couldn't stop looking at her, even as she sat down. I had a feeling… this weird feeling in my stomach, like… the one you get when you know that your life will never be the same, a feeling that she was hugely important. It wasn't until Naruto stood up on my left that I realized I had been staring. The teacher's eyes and mouth were slightly tight as he looked at my brother, but it wasn't the hate that we saw on the street.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki! My hobby is hor– horti–" "horticulture" I supplied under my breath, but he must not have heard. "growing plants and working with Shi-chan. And I want to learn ninjutsu!" I tried to keep myself from giggling. He only wanted to learn ninjutsu because it was so exciting and flashy.

"…Alright." The teacher's voice sounded a little weird. "Uzumaki, Shio."

And then behind me, I heard it. "Fishcake and Salt? Seriously?" somebody whispered. "Are they really related? They don't even look the same." The person next to them snickered. I stood up, trying to keep myself calm and not turning around to yell " _It's not fishcake and salt! It's Maelstrom and **Tide**!_ ".

"I am Shio Uzumaki. My hobby is… um…" _Making metal stuff? That'll just make me look weird._ "reading. I wish to learn more about kenjutsu. Please take care of me." I managed to say, keeping my voice level and not betraying my emotions.

"More like a tomato." Sasuke muttered next to me. My temper flared. If there was one thing that immediately got me going, it was calling me a tomato. Already feeling irritated over the name comment, it was the final straw.

"…Idiot." Naruto groaned, dropping his face in his hands in defeat.

My control crumbled. So _what_ if I had bright red hair. So _what_ if my face was roundish. Naruto's kinda was too! But you never saw anyone calling him anything about his hair color! It was always me!

Maybe you wouldn't think it, but Naruto was the calm one. _I_ was the one who had the temper. I don't think anybody ever expects it, 'cause I'm so quiet most of the time, but I could never keep that illusion up for long.

"I'm not a tomato, 'ttebane!" I shouted at her.

She looked surprised for a second at having been called out, and then started laughing, being quickly joined by the rest of the class. "'ttebane? That's so stupid!"

I glowered. Stupid mouth. Stupid verbal tic. "Yeah? Well it's not any weirder than a girl having a guy's name!" I shot back.

Her laughing stopped, and she glared at me. "S-shut up! It's a great name!"

I didn't answer, which seemed to really annoy her. Her face turned red and I wanted to tell her that she looked more like a tomato than I did right now… until she jumped out of her seat at me. "You take that back!" I was taken by surprise as she tackled me to the floor, but managed to recover quickly. I refused to let her get the upper hand as we wrestled, each of us fighting to pin the other down and prove who was stronger . The rest of the class had fallen silent.

"Enough!" The sensei stood over us, and pulled us apart.

"W-what! But he started it!" Sasuke said, pointing at me.

' _ **He!?**_ _I'm as much a girl as you, 'ttebane!_ ' But then I paused to think, managing to keep myself from correcting her right away like I usually would. ...This could be a good thing. If everybody thought I was a guy, I could stay in the same classes as nii-san. And I wouldn't have to take that stupid flower arranging class.

"Sasuke, you should know better than to call someone names." The black-haired girl only huffed. "And Shio!" He turned to me, and I saw something in his eyes, like he was fighting himself or something. "You can't insult someone else's name."

I looked down at the ground. "Fine." But she totally deserved it. _Nobody_ got away with calling me that. I didn't even really understand it. My hair may have been really red, but it was even shorter than nii-san's! I don't know why they all thought that when they saw me.

"Now, apologize to each other." Iruka-sensei said sternly.

"Sorry." I told her, not really meaning it at all.

"Sorry." she bit out petulantly. She stared right into my eyes as she said it, and I couldn't stop myself from thinking about how _black_ they were. Like coal. Or steel right after it was quenched and cooled. I mean, I've got violet and purple eyes, but black is just… weird. Not as weird as those Hyūga people and their white eyes, but still weird.

Iruka nodded. "Now, if you're both so eager to fight, you can pair up in the taijutsu evaluation on Wednesday."

I grumbled to myself as I sat down. She had a clan and tutors to teach her, but I'd never learned anything about ninja stuff before. Sasuke smirked, knowing she had the advantage against me.

There was no way I'd beat her.

* * *

 **A/N:**

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty damn proud of the fact that I managed to make a Japanese pun (Shio) that fits the themes of both of Naruto's name interpretations _and_ sound feminine. Plus I don't think I've ever seen Shio used as a Naruko name anywhere else. Yay originality!

I think chapters for this story will be a bit shorter than what I usually do, at least until we start getting into the heavy stuff. Then… it might grow to what I've got for _Turns_ (7,500 words) or even _Torment_ (which is more like 12,000 nowadays). We'll see.

Tell me what you think so far! I love reviews!

See you later~

* * *

 **Translations:**

クシナ、それが唯一の… : Kushina, it's the only–

封印! : Fūin! (Seal!)

…私たちはあなたの両方を愛して。ナルト、シオ、お互いの世話をしなだってばね。: –we love you both. Naruto, Shio, take care of each other, dattebane.


	2. Juxtaposition

Ah well. I suppose I shouldn't have expected this story to get nearly as many views as my other stories, although it's doing better than _Torment_ did in its first month. But to you guys that favorited and followed, thank you. And especially thank you to bbb671, sabersoul13, BR0TH3R MENACE, and Ziltoid, my first reviewers for this story.

Hopefully the new summary will get some people interested.

* * *

" _If you never try, you'll never know what you are capable of._ " - John Barrow

* * *

 **Chapter 2:**  
 **Juxtaposition**

"Why didn't you tell that teme that you're really a girl, Shi-chan?"

We sat under the shade tree on the Academy grounds, eating the lunch that nii-san had prepared for us. It was a simple bentō, since we didn't get a lot of fancy ingredients, but he still did the funny shapes with the food, like the cute octopus sausages. I thought it was funny eating those.

Nobody else came over to our area, all of them avoiding us. I think their parents must have told them to stay away. It just… wasn't fair. Why did everybody else get to make friends, but we didn't?

I swallowed my mouthful of rice and looked at him. "'Cause then I'll get to be in the same classes as you, nii-san." I wrinkled my nose. "And I won't have to take that stupid flower-arranging class."

He nodded in understanding. "Oh. I get it. I want to be with you too." He paused, but his forehead wrinkled. "Does that mean I have to stop calling you Shi-chan? 'Cause I don't wanna do that."

I giggled. "No. I don't think anybody'll get it. They'll probably just think it's a nickname or something."

"Okay!" He said, grinning. Sometimes my brother was so easy to please. But his smile always made me happy, so I didn't really mind.

* * *

Wednesday came way too fast.

It was only the third day we were in the academy, and I already hated it. All the other kids stayed away from us, and our teachers kept glaring. The only good thing was that we'd been learning ninja stuff. Naruto seemed to like it, but I think nii-san was just happy we were out of the house.

Classes were really long and boring, but that wasn't anything nii-san and I weren't used to. We'd never really had much to do before now besides reading or running around the village forests. We really liked this one in the east that had a bunch of rivers and streams in it.

Half of our classes was sitting and taking notes, and the other half was actually doing stuff. As much as I liked learning stuff from books, I could've learned it all fast myself just by reading the textbooks. Which is what I was doing during classes. The teachers didn't care about us, so I never got called on or noticed for it. But what I really liked was the things we did outside. Naruto and I had camped in the forest a lot, and I really liked being surrounded by the trees and stuff.

Wednesday's physical time had been blocked off for the taijutsu evaluations. And like he had promised, near the end of the period Iruka-sensei had called me and Sasuke up at the same time.

The sparring ring was in the shade of the large trees around the academy, which meant neither of us had an advantage from the sun. The ground was dry, so that also was not a factor. But the real difference was that Sasuke was obviously confident, while I was dreading this.

We both moved into the ring and I glanced over at Naruto hesitantly. My brother had already gone, against a civilian kid who he beat (barely). But he did win. At least one of us would be able could say that we had.

"Alright, make the seal of confrontation." Iruka told us. Sasuke and I held up our first two fingers vertically, looking at each other, declaring our intent to fight. "And… begin!" He stepped back to the sidelines, a clipboard in his hand to record what happened.

I looked at Sasuke.

She looked back at me, her black hair blowing lightly in the April breeze, the sun that peeked through the leaves reflecting off of it lightly. I bet my hair looked even redder than it did normally.

We stood there for a moment, my purple eyes connected with her black ones, and something went between us. Something we didn't need to say but was still there. And then the moment was over, and we were running at each other, closing the gap. I knew I didn't stand a chance, but I wasn't going to surrender. I had to at least try, or the other kids would think I was weak and pick on me. That would be much worse than just trying and still losing here.

The two of us stopped at the center, and Sasuke used her momentum to throw her right hand towards my chest, and I could do nothing except watch the fist that kept getting closer and closer. I knew it would throw me backwards, and it would definitely hurt enough to leave a bruise. There was nothing I could do to avoid it, I simply couldn't move fast enough, even though I wanted to.

That was when everything went… funny.

I blinked.

And then I was kneeling on her back, her front planted on the ground as I pinned the arm she'd tried to hit me with behind her back. Nobody moved for second, and the only sound in the courtyard was the wind whistling around the trees.

I was the first to do anything, which was scrambling off her like I'd been burnt.

 _What was that!? I… I can't–! I didn't–! D-did I?_

Sasuke tried lifting herself up as soon as I was off of her, but she grimaced when she put weight on her right arm and twisted her head to glare at me as she finished getting up. I shivered from the cold look as I sat in the dirt, not even able to try and say anything.

"U-um. Winner, Shio Uzumaki." Iruka stuttered, writing down the information on his clipboard.

The raven-haired girl gave one final look, this one unreadable, and then turned away, stalking towards the sidelines with a dismissive "Tch." muttered under her breath. Iruka looked like he was still in shock, and didn't even order us to do the seal of reconciliation. Everybody broke out in whispers, looking between me and Sasuke.

I picked myself up, shaking, and turned to look at my brother, hoping he could tell me something. His blue eyes were bright, and he was jumping in place as I wandered back to his side in a daze.

"That was so cool!" he whispered loudly. "She was like bam! and you were like no! and then you were on top of her! I didn't know you could do that! You should've told me!"

 _I didn't… I-I don't… What's… what's_ _ **wrong**_ _with me?_

"Shi-chan? Shio?" He was waving his hand in front of my face, and I snapped out of my thoughts. "You alright, Shi-chan? You're aren't looking so good. Kinda pasty."

I shook my head. "I-I'll be fine, nii-san."

"Really?"He squinted at me.

"Really." I assured him.

"Fine. But you've gotta tell me how you did that!"

"I–" I sighed. "After dinner." I agreed reluctantly. I wouldn't be able to hide anything from him for long. He knew me too well.

He nodded in satisfaction and turned to watch the few remaining matches as I fell silent, drawn into my thoughts and spiraling anxiety.

What had that been?

* * *

I'd told Naruto to go home before me because I wanted to be alone for a little while, and since he'd seemed to notice that I was being really serious about it, he agreed, only saying not to stay out too long and that he'd take care of dinner.

I sat on the swings outside the Academy, staring at the plain walls of the building, lost in my head and trying to think why everything had to be so hard. Why wouldn't anybody be friendly? Or even talk to us? At least I had nii-san. If he wasn't here… I didn't want to think about it. I think I'd be crazy. I couldn't imagine it.

The other swings creaked around me as the sun started going down, but I still didn't want to go. I didn't want this. I didn't want any of it. I hated it.

I hated the villagers. I hated how they looked at us. I hated how they treated us. I hated it **all**! And this was just going to make everything worse now..

I couldn't help the tears that started leaking out of my eyes, dripping onto the dusty ground.

"…Shi-chan?" I looked up. Naruto stood by the gates to the grounds, looking at me. "Shi-chan… are you…"

I turned away from him, not wanting him to see me crying. And then warm arms circled around me from behind. "I don't know what's wrong… but it's gonna be okay. I promise."

My tears started running down my face even faster, and I gripped the arm he had around me like it was the only thing keeping me alive.

He stood there hugging me for awhile, until I couldn't cry anymore and just sniffled pitifully. I wished that we were normal. I don't know how we weren't normal, but I still wished we were. Maybe then we could make friends and eat lunch with everybody else and talk to them about normal stuff.

My brother go of me, walking around to the front and grabbing my hand. "Come on, Shi-chan. Let's go home."

I nodded, allowing him to lead me out of the schoolyard and through the streets towards our house.

Towards the only place we could be ourselves without judgment.

* * *

 **Five Months Later**

"Teach me."

I blinked, looking up at the black-haired girl who stood next to my seat looking down at me. "W-what?"

"Teach me how to be better at taijutsu." she repeated, clarifying herself.

"Uh." My mind raced to try and figure out something to say. "Why?"

She frowned, her dark eyebrows furrowing together. "Because you're the best in the class."

It was true. I was undefeated for the past five months we'd been in school. Whenever we had taijutsu matches, I always won before the other person could even touch me. It always felt weird. I'd gotten used to it, it was like my body just knew what it was supposed to do. Like I'd done it forever. Whenever we did katas I had to force myself to do the academy ones, because my body wanted to do a different kind. I'd started doing those at home, where only Naruto could watch, and he tried to copy me, but I was more flexible than him, and he couldn't do them very well. We were allowed to use a different style than the academy one for the matches though (because of the clan kids), which is how I got away with it.

Her face relaxed, and she looked down at the ground. And then the last word I'd ever expected to hear came out of her mouth. "Please?"

And that was how I was roped into teaching Sasuke Uchiha taijutsu.

* * *

I stared at the wooden doors to the compound in front of me. The red-white fan that was on the back of Sasuke's blue kimono-shirt was proudly displayed on either side. Taking a breath, I walked into the compound. Naruto had stayed at home, as after I had told him of my agreement to help Sasuke both of us had concluded that she had really only asked _me_ , and her invitation hadn't extended to my brother. He had said it was okay, and that he would catch up on some of his television shows while I was out.

The compound was like a tiny town. There were shops and food stands on the main street, with tons of people walking around.

But as soon as they saw me, they started glaring at me, and then the whispers started. They were a lot louder than I could ever remember them being in the rest of the village.

"What're you doing here, fox brat?" A man stood in front of me as I tried to walk down the street. "We don't want you here. So leave." he growled angrily. He reached out to grab my shirt and I nearly acted reflexively to try and defend myself, but the man's arm was stopped in place by a hand that gripped it tightly, not letting it move an inch.

The man looked angry, and turned to the person who had reached out to stop him. But before he could say anything, his face drained of blood. "I-Itachi-sama."

"Itachi" was a boy with deep line-things on his face dressed like a ninja with an ANBU sword on his back (I love the ANBU swords. I've only ever really seen one, but it was so well-forged). His face was completely blank. It was like he didn't have any feelings. His eyes were so different from Sasuke's warmer ones that I almost shivered.

"Shio-san has permission to be here, Taiso. And she is under my protection. Is this understood?" his voice was as emotionless as his face.

"H-hai Itachi-sama."

"Good." Itachi released the man, who rushed away as soon he could. The ninja-boy turned to me. "My name is Itachi Uchiha. I am Sasuke's older brother. If you would please follow me, I will lead you to our training grounds where Sasuke-chan is."

I almost giggled at the combination of his really flat voice and him calling her "Sasuke-chan". I'd never heard anybody call her that before. Everybody at school called her "Uchiha-san" or "Sasuke". Never "-chan". I snorted.

…And then blushed furiously when I realized that had been out loud, suddenly deciding my feet were very interesting.

Itachi looked at me with a single eyebrow raised, but the rest of his face was the same as always.

I got the feeling he was asking why I had reacted like that. "U-um. You called her '-chan'. Nobody calls her that."

"Ah." We kept walking for a block or so until he asked, "She does not have any friends?"

"Not really…" I told him hesitantly. "Not that she even tries to talk to anybody…" I muttered. I'm pretty sure that I was the first person from our class she'd ever talked to willingly. And that was after five months.

Then again, she was also the first person to talk to me at school other than my brother or our teachers…

"I see." We walked a few more meters. "…Then perhaps I could request that you become her friend?"

"M-me!?"

He nodded as if he hadn't just asked for something that was probably impossible. "You are the first person she has ever asked to come to the compound. That holds a great deal of significance."

I waved my hand in front of my face. "No, nononono. She just asked me to do taijutsu stuff with her…"

I didn't even know why I had agreed. I guess because it had made me feel important in some way? Like I mattered to someone, even if it was just for my abilities and potential usefulness.

We stopped in front of a gate on a wire fence.

"Still. It is a start? Please, consider my request." he asked sincerely, showing the first emotion that he had on our entire walk.

I couldn't even think of how I would do something like that, but… "I-I guess I could try…" I reluctantly agreed.

He nodded in satisfaction, opening the gate and leading me in. "Sasuke, your guest is here." he called out towards the center of the field.

The girl in question was staring in front of a line of round targets that had knives in them and glaring at one like it had offended her. But as soon as she heard Itachi's voice, she turned around, a huge smile on her face that almost made trip over my feet. She _never_ smiled.

"Aniki!" she yelled happily.

And then her eyes landed on me, and her smile faded. "I have brought your guest here for your training, Sasuke." Itachi told her. "Please guide Shio-san back to the compound gates when you have finished." Sasuke didn't do anything to respond. "I must return to my duties. It was nice to meet you, Shio-san."

"U-um. You too." I replied.

He nodded at me and then disappeared in a blur.

As soon as he was gone, Sasuke scowled at me like I'd done something terrible.

"What?" Her stare was a little uncomfortable.

"Tch. Nothing." she bit out, turning and looking away from me. "Let's just do this already."

"Fine." I said, starting to get annoyed at her attitude. She was the one who'd asked me here, not the other way around. But I still walked over to the middle of the field where she stood. "So… um… what are we supposed to do?"

"How am _I_ supposed to know? _You're_ the one who's teaching _me_." she stated, as if it was completely obvious.

I kept my bubbling temper down. I was here to help her. Not to hurt her. Help. Not hurt.

Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I let it out through my nose before opening them back up and looking at her. "Okay. Our sensei from school have us do katas, so we could do that…" I'd just repeat what they did, demonstrating and then having us try to do it and correcting us. They never came to correct Naruto or I. I had to help him myself, since the forms weren't anything hard for me. "I can't really do the academy style… I kind of have my own. If you want I could teach you them?"

She nodded stiffly in agreement. "Okay. Just… watch me the first few times, alright?" I told her.

I took another breath, and then shifted into the starting stance of the most basic kata I had worked out.

I took a single step forward, and then allowed my body to take over the actions that I felt like I'd done thousands of times before. I purposefully tried to keep them slow for Sasuke's benefit, but it was difficult. Performing my katas felt freeing, like nothing else in the world mattered. The motions were me, and I was the flow of energy through my body. I was the ripple of my muscles, the beat of my heart, the rhythm of my breathing. I was the place where the sky and the ground touched, the one who dared to cut between them, but let them heal once I had moved on. I was tranquility itself.

I don't know how long it took, probably only ten minutes, but it felt like it was over quickly to me. Once I made the final step, I opened my eyes, lowering my arms to my sides and just standing still for a moment. Then I turned to Sasuke.

She stood there, staring at me with widened eyes. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but then closed it before she did.

"What?" I questioned, wondering why she was doing that.

Sasuke shook her head like she was trying to clear it then looked back at me.

"Do you want me to do it again, or do you want to try? We can split it up into sections if it's too hard…" I said, trailing off.

Immediately, her eyes turned hard and she turned sharply to the side, imitating my starting stance. Badly.

"No, it's like this…" I took the stance again, and she glanced over at me and tried to correct her own, but still didn't have it right. "Here…" I went over to her and re-positioned her limbs so they were in the right spots. She looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't, and just let me correct her as we went along in the steps.

This was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

The sun had already set by the time we finished, and we weren't even half-way through it yet. Wordlessly, we agreed to stop, and she led me out of the training field in the same direction I'd come from. Unlike my first trip, this one was completed without any conversation at all, only silence in the night until we reached the gates.

"…Thank you."

I spun around, looking at Sasuke, but she was already walking away from the gate, her back towards me.

Turning back around to head home and hopefully a warm meal made by my brother, I stared at my feet as I moved forward, thinking about Sasuke. She was so confusing.

I was almost half-way home when I ran right into something hard. Looking up to see what it was, I was met with a shirt. I kept looking up until I saw a face staring down at me. It was the same man as earlier that day… Daiko? Raigo? Taise? …I couldn't remember. The man grinned down at me. "Why, what do we have here?"

I took a step back, but the man's hand shot out and grabbed my shoulder. "S-stop. You're hurting me." I told him, trying to push his hand off, but it only got tighter.

"You aren't getting away this time, demon. There's no one to protect you now." He moved so fast that I didn't even notice his other hand reaching out until something covered my mouth.

I tried to fight back, to breathe, but then I started feeling… really… sleepy…

* * *

I woke up when something hard hit my face.

"Wake up, demon."

I opened my eyes, and tried to move, but felt something holding my arms behind my back. I was sitting on a hard, cold metal chair. …And I was naked. Why was I naked? Where were my clothes? My head felt really fuzzy. I had been at Sasuke's, and then…

Something moved in front of me and I tried to see it. The only light was above my chair, and it made it really dark, but I could kind see three… people standing there.

"W-what do you want?" I asked, my voice shaking. Why was I like this? What were they doing? Were they going to do something to me? "Please… please don't hurt me…"

The people, _men_ , started laughing as if I'd made some huge joke. "The demon doesn't want us to hurt it…" the one who'd grabbed me in the street, the middle one, said, and they laughed even harder. Then he stepped forward, and I saw something metal in his hand. It gleamed in the light, a shiny-gray color I knew very well.

A knife.

"We won't hurt you. …As much as you hurt us." he said. His voice scared me.

"B-but, I haven't! I didn't do anything! P-please!" I yelled, tugging at the things that were keeping my hands from moving.

He moved forward. "Tell that to my wife and daughter, demon." he said, the words colder than even Itachi's voice had been.

"P-please let me go. I'm not a demon." I whimpered. He looked like he wanted to do something other than kill me, and that look in his eyes made me really scared. I didn't know what he wanted. Something warm dripped down my legs.

"Haha! Look, it pissed itself!" a voice said. I couldn't tell where it came from. "What a fucking animal."

"Don't forget to save some for us." this time I heard it on my right, and I looked in that direction, and couldn't stop myself from gasping. The person had red eyes with these black dots in them. "I want a turn."

"Oh, you'll get a turn," the first man said, looking at me and stepping forward, his knife getting larger. And then he was right in front of me. "but before we have some fun with it, let's find out if demons can bleed."

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" A line of fire was running across my chest. It hurt so much. It hurt to breath. It hurt to scream. ( _painpainpainpain_ )

I looked down, searching for what I knew would be there. A large line that ran from my shoulder to my stomach on the other side. Warm red liquid ran down my chest, my stomach, and pooled on the chair between my legs.

 _ **Blood.**_

And then everything went black.

* * *

The girl slumped bonelessly, her head lolling down onto her chest.

"Hey you damn demon, you aren't allowed to pass out." The man backhanded the girl hard enough to whip her head to the side and make her skull bounce off of the back of the chair. The men collectively snickered at the abuse.

After a beat, the girl's head began slowly moving to face forward again.

The man in front of her grinned in anticipation of finally getting their revenge in full. "Ready to keep going, demon? We haven't even gotten starte…" he trailed off, his voice dying out slowly.

She was looking towards them completely, allowing them to watch as an inhuman grin slowly spread across her face and stretched out her whisker-marks, her violet eyes full of excitement and another emotion they couldn't name.

The room was soon filled with screams that were heard by nobody.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Pre-massacre Sasuke is so cute. What a tsundere ^^

Well, that was fun. Curious if you guys can figure out what's going on. Leave your ideas in the comments! I'll tell you if you're hot or cold next chapter.

Follow! Favorite! Review! (Please? I like them a lot...)

Love you all! See you next time!


	3. Incarnate

Here y'all go! We're starting to get into the messy stuff this chapter. Much earlier than I predicted, but it's also not anything _too_ bad yet.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _"Paranoid? Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face."_ \- Jim Butcher, Storm Front (the Dresden Files #1)

 _"You're not paranoid if there really is a monolithic embodiment of pure evil out to get you."_ \- Flavor text on the "Conspiracy Theory-D" shotgun in _Destiny_

* * *

 **Chapter 3:**  
 **Incarnate**

"Uuuunnnnhhhh." I sat up, looking around at where I was, clutching my head, which throbbed in pain.

I was in a giant room. A dim giant room. A large golden gate sat in front of me, and everything behind it was completely dark. I couldn't see a ceiling, or any walls. Just the stone ground and this gate that extended in every direction.

I walked towards it slowly, pushing away the still-present but dulling pounding in my head.

"Hello?"

A set of clawed fingers stuck out between the bars, slamming down and almost hitting me. They dragged back towards the gate, scraping across the stone floor, and slipped through the bars as if they'd never come out.

Then a large red circle appeared behind the gate where the hand had been. It had a black line that curved outwards running up and down, and white around the red.

" **Just a bit closer, little girl,** " a loud voice growled.

I took a step backwards, the opposite of what the voice told me to do. "W-who's there?"

" **I want to eat you, but this damned seal...** " it muttered.

"W-wha?" I was shocked silent, until I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Where are you?"

A loud chuckle came from behind the gate, like pieces of rock banging against each other.

" **Look at me, little girl, and tell me who I am. Then I might tell you where we are.** "

Light began filling the room, showing me what was behind the bars.

It was orange. Very orange. I looked up. And up. And up. A darkly grinning snout and face with two of those red circ- eyes. Eyes with slit pupils. Behind the face was a long body, covered in orange fur, and then beyond even that...

were tails.

Nine... tails...

I took another step back, falling backwards onto the floor, staring at the massive creature with wide eyes.

"K-k-k-k-k-kyūbi."

" **Correct.** " It grinned even wider.

"B-b-but... the fourth hokage killed the Kyūbi."

" **Do I look dead to you, girl?** " it asked darkly, as if answering wrong would have horrible consequences.

I shook my head so fast that my vision blurred.

" **I'm only... temporarily restrained.** " It glared at me with hate-filled eyes that made me want to run away, but I was stuck where I was, rooted to the floor. " **Sealed away by your precious 'savior' into you and your** _ **brother**_ **until you die, little girl.** " Its malicious smile returned. " **Unless you pull off that tag...** " It lifted a hand, using a single claw to draw my attention.

I looked where it was pointing. A white piece of paper sat in the middle of the gate, over a seam that ran upwards from the floor. It must have been over a hundred feet above me.

"I-I can't reach it..." I said dumbly.

" **I could give you power. Power beyond your wildest dreams. All you need to do is take it off. And then it would all be yours,** " it promised.

I shook my head again in denial, unable to trust my mouth right now.

" **Then remember my words, little girl. When you need power...** " The room started fading around me, the bars and giant fox melting into darkness. " **...you will come to me.** " It laughed, a great booming sound that echoed in my mind as I drifted away.

* * *

A girl stood in a clearing, shrouded in darkness, looking down at her hands. Raising one, she made a fist and then released it, holding it in front of her and examining her fingers, twisting them around in the pale moonlight.

That girl was me.

I... I was alive. And eight again, apparently.

How strange.

The last thing I could remember was Alexis' heart failing, a painful feeling of not being able to catch a breath, and then that wonderfully black darkness that felt like nothing I'd ever experienced before. That thing that had touched my soul, that I had embraced, never wanting to let go.

I could still feel it, there in my mind, whispering sweet nothings.

Though it felt like she was still here with me as well. I'd need to be careful if that was the case. It looked like I was back to my old habits of lurking around and messing with memories.

What a shame.

I sorted through her current memories, like a film on fast forward, paying special attention to the brother it seemed we had. Naruto. And we had our own new name. ...Shio Uzumaki.

And she'd decided to play at being male? I was unable to stop the giggle that arose. How ironic.

It appeared that she and Naruto had received no small amount of neglect and abuse, thanks to these villagers. Coupled with the fact that we were orphans as well, that was... completely unacceptable.

I'd have to investigate what was causing that. There had to be some reason, even if it was complete shit. It looked like I'd also be able to make some new... friends from all of this, which was always a good thing.

It was what I did best, after all.

I laughed, dancing in the moonlight that peaked through the clouds and reflected off the grass and my blood-soaked skin.

I was _alive_.

* * *

It was the combination of our lumpy bed shifting from my brother getting out and the sudden blazing light from him opening the blinds that forcibly dragged me from my sleep. I wanted to just stay in bed, but my brother finally convinced me to get up by tempting me with the one thing he knew would work: his food. Specifically that morning, pancakes.

Naruto's cooking was the best. I couldn't make anything half as well as he could, but he always complimented my food anyways, which gave me a warm feeling in my stomach.

We tried to figure out what to do for the day as we ate, him wanting to pull another of his pranks, me attempting to convince him to still study if he did, as he was failing history and needed to pass. And then him agreeing as long as I gave him some of the kunai I would make that day. Sundays were my forging days.

We still had our daily morning training though, so after we finished breakfast and cleaned the kitchen, we packed ourselves lunch and put them in the canvas bags that Jii-san had gotten us one year for our birthday.

It was weird, because the one time we'd asked him which of us was older, he'd said that he really didn't know.

I... I like that. I think it shouldn't matter. Nii-san and I are together. We're equal, and it means that there're less differences between us to make things harder.

"Ready, Shi-chan?" Naruto asked, standing in the genkan and putting his sandals on. We were going to our training ground, which we'd been doing every morning since we started school. I think it really helped, as nii-san was getting stronger (and I think I was too, but I'm kind of already strong because of the heavy hammer I have to use when I make blades and stuff).

"M-hm! Ready!"

It was only as we were walking through the streets and the villagers looked down on us again that I remembered what had happened in my dream.

The Kyūbi. It was... really, _really_ big. And scary.

I felt like it wasn't really a dream.

Which meant the things it had said, about being sealed in me and Naruto were probably true.

I thought about it all the way to our training ground, barely noticing when we got there until Naruto poked me in the arm.

"Shi-chan?"

I blinked, looking at him. I... I should tell him right? It wouldn't be right to keep something like this to myself.

I sat down on the grass, taking off my pack. "I... I've got something to tell you."

He immediately sobered up. Naruto could be energetic and bright nearly all the time, but whenever there was serious stuff, or I said things seriously, he always paid attention.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I... I had a dream," I said, starting off. "Except... it didn't really feel like a dream."

He squinted. "Then what was it?"

"I think it was real."

"Well, what happened?"

"I... ItalkedtotheKyūbi," I blurted out.

"What?"

I took a breath. "I talked to the Kyūbi, nii-san. And... it wasn't a dream. It said... it said that Yondaime-sama didn't kill it, but sealed it in me. ...And you."

He looked down at the grass. "And... and that's why the villagers hate us, isn't it?"

"...yeah," I agreed softly, having come to the same conclusion. "But... why do you just believe me? Without any proof?"

Naruto turned his head to me and grinned. "'Cause it's you, Shi-chan. I'll believe you, no matter what. If you said you think it's real then I think so too." I beamed at him. "And... it just makes sense. Nobody likes us. They call us demons and foxes and stuff when they think we can't hear it. And then..." he reached a finger out to touch my face "we've got these." He traced a finger over one of the birthmark-lines on my face, making me shiver at the feeling of him touching the sensitive skin. "Kitsune whiskers," he joked.

I thought about if there was anything else. "And... we heal really fast. We don't have bruises for longer than an hour, and cuts are gone after only a night. That one time you broke your arm, it was all healed in a week. And we can run longer than everybody else."

He fell backwards in the grass, staring at the sky with his arms behind his head. "So... we're like... super-ninja!"

I pushed his shoulder. "Only if you pass history, baka! Otherwise, we'll never be ninja."

He grinned. "Eh, I'll figure out a way to pass anyways! And you're at the top with the teme, so you've got nothin' to worry about. Hey! Now that I think about it, the top four are all girls! It's Sasuke, you, and then that Yamanaka girl, and then Hinata-chan."

I blushed. "Well, if you studied more, I bet you could get there too."

He shook his head. "Nah. Too much effort. It'd be troublesome."

"Nii-san! Now you're sounding like a Nara!" I huffed. "And Hinata _-chan_?"

His face got red. "Well, yeah. Y'know."

"Know what?" I asked, scowling at him in mock-irritation.

"She was being made fun by these three temes of last December, and I kinda helped her out..."

My eyes narrowed. "Was that that one day you came home all messed up and bruised?"

"Heh heh," he laughed nervously. "Maybe?" I glared. "And... um, I may have given her your scarf?"

"Narutooooo!" He paled. The only time I ever said his actual name was when I got really upset.

"I'm sorry! It was kinda ruined anyways..." he confessed cautiously. "And I thought it would be nice! She looked so sad and lonely, Shi-chan!"

I relented, looking at his eyes which were full of determination and earnestness. "You could've just told me," I said. "I always wondered where it was."

He appeared contrite. "Sorry."

"And if she's lonely, why didn't you ever invite her to eat lunch with us, huh?" I asked. I was working on getting Sasuke to eat with us, since it would be a step towards being friends like her brother wanted, but I still hadn't made any progress.

Naruto flushed and scratched the side of his head, squinting in the sunlight. "'Cause I didn't know if you'd be okay with it."

"Why not? Why didn't you just ask?"

"Um... I didn't think of that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Then tomorrow you're going to ask her to eat lunch with us," I told him, getting up from the ground and beginning to stretch. He knew that I wasn't asking.

Naruto gulped. "H-hai, nee-san."

* * *

I watched carefully as my brother walked over to the blue-haired girl as soon as we were dismissed for lunch and started talking to her. He was nervous, shuffling around and not gesturing like he usually did.

Eventually, though, Hinata smiled slightly and nodded, and Naruto laced his hands together behind his head.

He was probably grinning like crazy right now.

Hinata collected a small bentō box from her bag and followed Naruto over to where I was. I was right, he was grinning like a loon. Once they both had gotten over to us, I handed him his box.

"A-ano." Hinata actually bowed to me which was... unusual. She was an heiress, so she shouldn't be bowing to me. "Hello, Uzumaki-san."

"Good afternoon, Hyuuga-sama." I returned her bow.

The girl reddened, her white cheeks turning pink. "A-ah. You can use my first name. A-and no honorific."

"Okay. Um, same with me," I told her in response. She nodded in acceptance.

"C'mon Shi-chan, Hinata-chan," Naruto called from the classroom entrance. "You can do all that meeting stuff outside."

We followed my brother out into the hall, down the two flights of stairs, and then out into the courtyard. We could also eat inside, but both of us liked the outside better.

Sitting under our usual tree at the edge of the grounds, I popped open the lid to my bentō and began eating. We ate mostly in silence, slightly awkward, as I felt weird having a third person with us, and Hinata seemed very quiet.

Once Naruto had finished, he leaned back against the tree trunk and stared at the leaves, watching them move around in the breeze.

"U-um, Shio-san?" Hinata drew my attention to her, but she sat poking her fingers together and looking at the ground. "W-why do you let everyone think you're a boy?"

I froze, Naruto now looking at us as well.

"I-I don't know what you mean," I stammered. H-how did she find out?

She kept tapping her fingers together. "I can see it whenever we spar..."

Spar? Why would...

"Byakugan," I realized. Hinata nodded in affirmation.

The dōjutsu of the Hyūga clan which granted 360° x-ray vision. Of course she'd be able to tell I wasn't a boy.

Naruto turned to me, panicked.

I got the feeling that lying wouldn't do anything. It would be better just to tell her the truth and get her to promise that she wouldn't tell anybody else.

"It's so I can stay with nii-san," I told her, answering her original question. "The classes split up, but I... I don't want to take those classes. I'd rather be with my brother. Please don't tell anyone?" I pleaded.

She stopped tapping and nodded, still not looking up. "I understand," she whispered quietly.

I let out a sigh of relief, Naruto smiling at us. "So, Hinata-chan, what sorta stuff do you like to do?"

Hinata looked up a bit, which made me feel better. "I-I train in Jūken."

"Nah. I mean, like, stuff you _like_. Not taijutsu training." I poked my brother in the shoulder. "U-unless you actually like stuff like that. There's nothing wrong with that."

I sat back, mollified, looking at the heiress and waiting to see what she said. Her tapping started up again. "U-um. I-I like flower arranging. And tea ceremony. And studying other cultures and their politics."

I blinked at the last. The first two had seemed so normal, and then there was _that_. But... this was also perfect, and I couldn't stop the grin that grew on my face. "That's perfect. Nii-san needs help with his history, and he doesn't want to do it with me. Maybe _you_ could help him out?"

Hinata blushed so deeply it probably rivaled my hair. "A-a-a-ano, I-I th-think I could help you, Naruto-kun."

"Yes, nii-san, and it would be bad if you didn't take up Hinata's offer, wouldn't it?" He looked back and forth between the two of us rapidly. " _Wouldn't it?_ " I repeated, stressing the words.

"R-right. Yeah. Studying with Hinata-chan. Of course," he agreed.

"Great!" I exclaimed, satisfied with my work.

Hinata's face abruptly got redder, and then without warning she toppled over backwards, slumping onto the ground, unconscious.

"Eh? Hinata-chan? Hinata?"

* * *

 **Three days later**

"... So what you're saying is three MPs have been missing for over half a week, and you didn't feel the need to report this to me the _first_ day they did not report for duty? Three _Uchiha_ MPs, at that?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi tamped down the tobacco in his pipe before biting down on the end, fixing the chūnin in front of him with a stare.

"W-well, we don't know exactly what happened..."

"Save me the excuses. I don't need my ears filled with bullshit in the morning," the Hokage said sourly. "And there has been no sign or indication of why they are missing?"

The Uchiha jōnin shook his head. "No, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen snapped his fingers above his pipe, lighting it and taking a draw at the same time. He allowed the smoke to warm his lungs before exhaling, while the incompetent fool in front of him fidgeted in the meantime.

"Is there any chance they have defected or become missing-nin?" he questioned, removing the pipe to ask his question.

"N-not that we can tell. None of the three had any signs of being anything but loyal to the village."

The Hokage took another draw of his pipe. "Let me repeat what you're telling me. We have three chūnin-level MPs missing in action with absolutely no idea or clue why they're missing, where they are, or what they could be doing?"

The ninja quaked. "H-hai."

Hiruzen allowed his hat's shadow to fall over his eyes, pipe clenched in his teeth at the corner of his mouth. "...pathetic."

"W-what, sir?"

The Hokage slammed his hand down on the solid oak desk in front of him. "'PATHETIC'!" The other man looked about ready to piss himself. "Because of your, no, your _clan's_ incompetence and neglect in informing me of this matter, any chance we had of finding or tracking them, whether by scent or chakra signature, is completely impossible! THREE DAYS!"

He glared at the man. "Get out."

"H-hai, Hokage-sama. Good day, Hokage-sama." The Uchiha scrambled as fast as he could to get out of the door, it closing behind him loudly.

"Damn," Hiruzen swore, turning around in his chair to look out of the windows behind him. Three MPs disappearing without a single trace.

What could have happened to them?

With all of the unrest and turmoil building in the Uchiha, three missing chūnin was not a good thing. They could be anywhere, including out of the village to gain support from the other hidden villages. It looked like the problem would have to be dealt with sooner, rather than later.

He sighed. He'd need to get Itachi's opinions on the state of the clan before entering into negotiations. It would be no good if the clan was completely opposed to any form of diplomacy.

The situation with the Uchiha was tenuous, balanced on a knife's edge, and the disappearance of these three men could tip that balance onto either side.

And then there had been Fugaku's less-than-subtle message to him: "You're not worth having me come and report to you face-to-face." Yet another example of Fugaku undermining Hiruzen's authority and stating outright what he thought of the Hokage.

Hiruzen drew a breath from his pipe and expelled it, looking out over Konoha towards the Uchiha compound near the southern edge.

Yes. It would be better to start working towards pacifying the slowly-simmering dissent now, instead of waiting any more.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha was confused.

Specifically, she was confused by the extremely inconsistent tangle of oddities that was Shio Uzumaki.

His twin brother Naruto was easier to understand, and if he hadn't been Shio's brother, she would have hardly paid him any attention. But Shio was strange.

Very strange.

She didn't understand how a person could be so amazingly good at taijutsu and yet utterly _suck_ at other things like throwing kunai and shuriken. Which is how she'd decided to pay Shio back: by teaching him. She didn't like the thought of owing anybody anything. ...Except maybe her aniki.

And so, a month after Shio had begun tutoring her on the weekends, she stood up next to his desk after class, looking down at him imperiously. "Come with me."

"W-what?"

"Come with me. I'm going to teach you," she stated.

" _N-now?_ " he stuttered.

Sasuke frowned. "Yes."

"D-does it have to be now?" the boy asked. "Because it would be easier at our normal time..."

"It would be better to start now, so that we don't interfere with our current schedule." It was obvious, wasn't it?

"W-well, okay," he agreed, getting up and putting his books away in his bag.

"Hn. And stop stuttering. It's unbecoming of someone who is associating with the Uchiha."

"Eh?" He halted, looking at her. "O-oh." He shook his head like he was trying to clear it. "I mean, sorry. You just... you know, caught me off guard, I guess." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hn."

"So... uh, where are we going?" Shio asked. "Because... if it's far away, I should tell nii-san."

"We will be going to the compound."

"Oh. Let me tell him, okay?"

She nodded in acceptance.

Naruto had been out of the room ( _as dismissive of his studies as ever,_ Sasuke thought) and just came back to pack up as well.

"Uh... Nii-san?" Shio called out, getting his attention. "I'm going to be going with Sasuke-san so she can teach me something."

The blonde grinned. "Okay. You gonna be home for dinner?" The other boy looked at Sasuke, who nodded. They would not be going so late. "Alright then. I'll put something together." Shio nodded.

The raven-haired girl turned to the redhead, "Let's go, then."

And she proceeded to practically drag him out of the room off to her home to tutor him in how to throw tools properly.

* * *

" _This_ is how you hold a shuriken," Sasuke stated, looking at me with one in her hands.

I still didn't really get what was going on. Sasuke had effectively kidnapped me after school with the excuse that she was going to "teach me". Teach me _what_?

I still had no idea, but it looked like it had something to do with shuriken.

"Um, Sasuke? ...What are you teaching me?" I asked.

She gave me a flat look. "How to throw things better, of course."

"Ah. R-right." I decided it was probably best to simply surrender to whatever it was she wanted to do. That was usually the best course of action when it came to her.

Sasuke could be very... _tenacious_ when it came to getting something she wanted. It was why we spent nearly four hours every Saturday doing taijutsu together.

"You have to hold it like this. Not too loosely, not too tight. Enough that you can make it go where you want, but not enough that it's unable to be controlled," she instructed. "You have to throw it just... right." With a single flick of the wrist, the throwing star was embedded dead-center in the target twenty feet away. "Not too fast and not too slow."

"...Why are you doing this?" I didn't understand what prompted any of it.

She huffed and then turned to look at me, her black eyes seeming as deep as pits. "Hn. Because an Uchiha shouldn't owe someone something. I'm just repaying you."

O-oh. I thought... I thought she might be doing this because she wanted to, but it was just because she felt like she had to. "U-um. You don't need to do this if it's troublesome for you. I didn't expect you to pay me back or anything."

Sasuke glared at me. "No."

"No?"

"No," she repeated. "I won't let you do that." Her glare got weaker and she looked to the side. "And it's not troublesome, idiot."

* * *

Iruka-sensei clapped his hands as we stood outside under the trees. It was already October by now, and all the leaves around us were beginning to change colors, turning everything yellow, orange, and red. ...I've always liked fall because it reminds me of me and Naruto. "Alright, today we're going to be unlocking your chakra, for those of you who don't have access to it yet."

Naruto started grinning next to me. "Yes!"

Since we were orphans, there was nobody to help us with our ninja training, and especially for ninjutsu. So before now, we hadn't even had the chance to get our chakra unlocked.

"Okay, those of you who haven't been unlocked, line up next to each other over here. Those who have, Mizuki-sensei will be working with you on your taijutsu," Iruka announced.

I followed my brother over and stood next to him. We were about eighth and ninth in line, with most of the others being civilian kids.

"This is a Ram seal," Iruka put his hands into the shape in demonstration. "You need to hold this. When I inject chakra into your network, it will feel like your network is burning. You need to follow that until it reaches your stomach. When it gets there, there should be a strange feeling of something there, and you need to pull it out. This won't necessarily be easy, and I'll be here as long as it takes. In the meantime, you all may sit."

Dutifully, we sat, except for the first in line.

Iruka took about an hour to work his way down the line towards my brother and I. Nii-san was first, and it only took him five minutes, a yellow glow barely appearing around his body before Iruka finally let go of him.

And then it was my turn.

I stood up and placed my fingers in the Ram seal, ignoring Iruka's slightly hard looks as he reached out and grabbed my shoulders.

It felt like there were suddenly inch-thick needles being shoved into my body through my upper arms. The needles melted, becoming molten metal that flowed through me like burning lava, allowing me to get a sense of my chakra network for the first time.

I gritted my teeth as the sensation moved towards my core, following it as it went until it finally hit what felt like a huge ball of _something_ that it couldn't touch. Guessing that that was what I was trying to access, I reached for the ball and tried pulling it back along my burning pathways, soothing and numbing as it went. It resisted at first, but after pulling it almost to the base of my ribs, it suddenly became easier, like it had shifted from being putty to syrup and then from syrup to water, not requiring my help to have it flow. I could feel the energy humming through me, racing around my body.

When the large flow of chakra finally got to my upper torso and arm where Iruka's hands were, he sucked in his breath slightly and pulled his hands back, shaking them out, his face looking pained.

Did I do something wrong? Nobody else had had him react like that.

Glaring at me, he silently moved on to the kid next to me, leaving me staring at my hands and the faint shimmer I had seen around them.

It had looked almost... black.

"C'mon Shi-chan. We can go train with the teme," he said, pulling me out of my thoughts and grabbing my hand to drag me in the direction of the other side of the yard, towards where Sasuke stood, practicing the katas I had taught her.

As soon as she saw us she gave no sign of acknowledgment, and said nothing as we joined her, but I saw something change in her eyes.

It was progress.

* * *

Iruka looked down at his palms, staring at the red marks left behind from missing layers of skin.

"Trouble?" Mizuki asked, looking at the same place the Chūnin was.

Iruka shook his head, rubbing a finger over his right hand, feeling the strangely smooth surface. "It's probably nothing."

But he wasn't able to fully convince himself. Something about that fox girl... _Shio's_ chakra had felt... _off_. Not even like her brother's where Iruka had been able to feel some of the demon fox's chakra. Instead hers had felt just unsettling. **Wrong**. Something that didn't belong.

And he didn't know what to make of it.

* * *

I was running home from Sasuke's training ground when I saw him. He was in one of the alleys I used as shortcuts to avoid the main roads. At first I hadn't noticed him, but then the moon came out from behind clouds and lit everything up.

He was slumped sideways against the wall and ground, a curved streak of bright, shiny red painted on the surface at his back. His chest was barely moving, and I knew something had to be wrong.

"U-um. Hey. Mister?" I reached out and shook his shoulder, and he barely managed to move his head, looking up at me.

I gasped and stumbled backwards. His eyes were red, with three dot-things in them. They... they scared me. I didn't know why, but they made me feel so afraid. I wanted to get away. To hide.

( _nothingyoucandotostopit_ )

Everything went black.

* * *

I opened my eyes, staring across the small, dim alley at the dying man in front of me.

Grinning, I got up and walked forward, before lowering myself in front of him. "Hey mister. You don't look so good."

His breathing kept going, slowly, methodically, not responding.

Not _able_ to respond. It seemed his spinal cord had been severed with a single slash, creating the amazing red stroke behind him but rendering him unable to do anything now. It was a bit boring, but at the same time, I did need this to be quick. And not having them fight back made it _much_ quicker. It also seemed like someone must have damaged his vocal cords first so he wouldn't make any noise when they had sliced his back.

"Kinda... peaked, I think. That's probably just from all your blood that's leaking out of your back, though," I commented thoughtfully. I giggled and sat down on his lap facing him, which was possible because his legs were splayed outwards from his body into the alley itself.

After a moment, his eyes dimmed from their bright red to coal-black.

"Hmm... You're dying, but it seems like it's gonna take you a while. That's no fun." I tilted my head. "I'll just... help you out."

I drew one of her kunai from the holder on our leg slowly, letting his eyes follow the path of the metal tool. "It's been a good month and a half since my last time. Sadly, I can't keep her asleep for too long, like this, so... I guess you're getting off easy." It also meant I'd have to be careful about getting blood on myself, which was an absolute killjoy. "I think you'll be happy to know the others didn't, though." I grinned. "They got the full package."

His chest still lifted. In. Out. In. Out.

"Kunai are pretty interesting, yeah?" I looked at the shiny object I held, passing it to my left hand. "They're like, the omni-tool of this world. Trowel. Hammer. Long-distance throwing object." I twisted it around, flipping the blade around, twirling it around and then even between my fingers, keeping my eyes on his as they followed the complex paths. "And, you know, the obvious one:"

" _Knife._ " With that final word, I snapped it back into my palm and shoved it into the lower left of his chest, right into his liver, hearing the _squelch_ of the blood-saturated organ as it was punctured.

He gasped.

"Oh, don't be such a fucking pussy. I've dealt with worse than that. We haven't even gotten started. You know, you can survive with a serious liver injury for almost a day before you die? That has to be _amazing_. Unfortunately, you don't have that long, and I've got even less. I wish I could take my time with you, but alas, 'Time and Tide wait for no man'." I yanked the knife out in a single motion, eliciting another gasp. "Get it? 'Cause you've got no time, and her name means tide, and neither of them are going to wait on us to have our fun, so... yeah."

Blood began flowing out of the wound and into his shirt, running onto his pants and staining them before seeping to the sides and around his legs before finally spreading out onto the cold concrete. "See, normally this is the part where you would be screaming, and I would be doing some different stuff to you, but this is just fucking boring." I sighed. I thought this would be mildly interesting because of the novelty, but it really wasn't.

"Let's just get this over with."

I moved the knife to my right hand. "...There was this series of books we read, back where we came from. It was more her thing than mine, but there's this one line I remember one of the characters saying: 'The true way to a man's heart is six inches of metal between his ribs. Sometimes four inches will do the job, but to be really sure, I like to have six.'"

I lifted the kunai so he could see it better. "And you see, it seems like she likes to make rather long kunai, so tonight you got lucky. Six inches of steel, right between the ribs." I grinned, and positioned it just where I wanted it, right side of his chest, between the fourth and fifth ribs, the point digging in but not yet piercing.

And then with the ever-so-slightest twitch, I broke through cloth and skin.

I took it slow, savoring the feeling of his skin parting beneath the blade, the blood that ran out of the wound down the knife's edges. His eyes were stuck on mine, and I stared into them, purple irises meeting pitch-black pools as the kunai cut into his body inch by agonizing inch. Watching as he realized the inevitability of his death at my nine-year-old hands, that this was truly his last night of existence. I started getting excited. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

I could see the pain on his face, in his eyes. They watered slightly, and he whimpered a little under his breath, but other than that he didn't cry out, couldn't do anything more than breathe as I continued gradually pushing the bloody steel blade into his body.

It took twenty seconds before he started coughing up blood from his punctured lung, barely able to keep breathing. I kept going, digging deeper and deeper with each second, until it would hit that thing I wanted oh-so-badly but was unable to actually have tonight.

And after a full minute, I was there.

I could feel it. The deep, slow _thu-thump thu-thump_ of the muscle against the point of the knife in my hand, echoing and running up my fingers into my hand and arm.

God, it felt so fucking good.

I wanted it so badly, but I couldn't. It was pure torture, to have the thing you desired right in front of you, but know it couldn't be yours.

I couldn't stand it anymore. So with a single thrust, I pushed the blade forward and pierced the wall of muscle. His heart tried to fight the foreign object, and I could feel more than ever the spasms that it gave, the slowly dying _thuds_.

Like a light slowly going out, his eyes dimmed, and then his heart gave one final _lurch_ before stopping.

I couldn't stop the wide grin that spread across my face. It may have been torturous for me, but _damn_ if I didn't enjoy that.

"See, that was fun, wasn't it?" I asked the body.

If I couldn't have his heart, I at least wanted something to remember this by. I hadn't done something so... sensual in a very long time.

"A finger?" I asked. No. If the body was discovered, it would be strange to find that one of his fingers had been removed when it only appeared like a simple stabbing. Those eyes, though. Those red eyes. Sharingan eyes, the thing that made Sasuke-chan's clan so special. I don't think it would be too strange to see those missing, as it would be understandable if he was attacked for them, especially if I removed them correctly. I nodded to myself. "Yeah. It's not like you'll be needing them anymore, ne?"

Giggling to myself, I carefully cut away each of his eyelids, making incisions so I could peel back the skin around the sockets and make this easier.

"Hmm-mm. Superior, Inferior, Lateral, Medial rectus," I hummed as I worked, severing each muscle as I named it. "Superior, Inferior oblique, Levator superioris~"

With a satisfying "pop" I pulled the eye out. Sticking the kunai in his skull as far as it would go, I sliced through the ocular nerve, letting the eye fall into my hand. I held it in front of me, looking into it, trying to figure it out. I couldn't understand how an eye could actually be special, granting those amazing techniques, but apparently it was.

"Next."

I repeated the process on the left, the end result being two pristine eyes with black irises sitting in my hand and a bloody kunai in my right. Wiping the knife off on his pants, I put it back where I had originally pulled it from.

"Now, what am I going to do with _you_?" I asked the two whitish objects.

Thankfully, I had the perfect solution. The Hokage had given her a small sealing scroll for her birthday only a week ago, to help her carry around metal and things she found for forging.

Pulling out the rolled up paper, I unrolled it as far as it could go, right to the end. Placing the eyes in the last circle, I gave it some of the energy that was running through our body, our chakra.

Soundlessly, the pair of eyes disappeared. "Perfect."

I could feel her beginning to fight the effects of forcibly taking over our body while she was still semi-conscious. It looked like my time was up. I sighed. Sometimes I hated being the submissive one. It wasn't like I _couldn't_ hold her there indefinitely, but... that wasn't how it worked. I was of her, for her.

Rolling the scroll up, I replaced it where it had been, hidden in a compartment under her kunai-holder.

"Sorry we couldn't have any more fun," I apologized to the man. "Still, I think we had a good time, didn't we?"

He didn't say anything.

Ah, well.

I walked back over to the other side of the alley where she had fallen down, sitting down in a position similar to what she had been in.

And I let go.

* * *

I opened my eyes, blinking.

The moon shone brightly in the sky, higher than it had been before. The light fell on the other side of the alley, and I couldn't stop the sharp breath I took.

"H-hey. Mister." I got up and walked over to him, looking to see if he did anything. "Mister?"

His chest wasn't moving.

He was dead, but for some reason that didn't bother me at all. In fact... it seemed _right_.

Blood had spread out on the concrete below him, leaving a puddle behind that reflected the moon like mercury. It had all come from two slits, one in his abdomen and one in his chest, and had stained his shirt a dark burgundy. His eyes were missing, cut out as if by a surgeon.

It was... beautiful.

I crouched down next to the corpse, looking at it, entranced by the allure it seemed to exude. My hand reached out on its own, touching the wound in his chest and digging into the split skin until I couldn't even see the knuckles. It was amazing, feeling the softness of skin and resistance of muscle, the unyielding hardness of bone, and then even the roundness of something inside. Like nothing I'd ever known before. I drew my fingers back, looking at the slightly sticky, still-warm liquid curiously, watching it slowly run downwards in rivulets of crimson.

How could something be so perfect? I wanted to understand. I wanted to know.

I **wanted** it.

I brought my fingers up to my mouth, my tongue reaching out.

( _itallreturnstonothing(me)_ )

* * *

Unknown to the girl, a man stood on the roof above the alley, watching the scene that had unfolded, having seen everything.

A black cloak fluttered slightly in the breeze, while a single blood-red eye circled behind an orange striped mask that was barely visible in the pale moonlight.

And Uchiha Madara looked on.

* * *

 **Translations:**

 _Genkan_ (玄関 : げんかん) : lit. entrance. A small area right after the front door in traditional Japanese homes that is lower than the rest of the hallway/floor. It's usually tiled (called _tataki_ ), and is used to store shoes and switch to house-slippers, preventing dirt from getting tracked into the main house. Think of it like an equivalent to a mud room, if you know what those are, without the inside door.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Ohhhh boy. So. Does this manage to answer all your questions from last chapter? I would hope so. Even if it only gives you more. :P

Seriously though, I love this chapter's quotes. They make me laugh every single time I read them.

Ahhh... part-one Kurama. You amuse me so.

I'm surprised at how much I'm _really_ enjoying writing Naruto. I thought this story would focus more on Shio, but Naruto and Sasuke seem to be showing up a lot. Not that I mind, quite the opposite, in fact. I love how he, Shio, and our favorite teme all interact. And now, Hinata, it looks like.

How do you feel about the third-person scenes? Do you like them? I usually write my stories in third-person, and I've noticed the vast majority of Naruto fics are written that way, so first-person probably seems odd to you all. Thoughts?

Uchiha massacre next chapter! Shisui! Itachi! More of the ever-adorable tsundere Sasuke-chan!

As always, a huge, giant thanks to both Ziltoid, for all his feedback and thoughts, and [nameless] for their support.

Please! Leave a review! Tell me your thoughts!

Until next time!


End file.
